


and every chance to dance i'll take

by gravitropism



Series: Grad Students!AU [10]
Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Fluff, Grad Students!AU, M/M, What's new, chanyeol is a lil muffin, chingu line being dumb, references to marvel movies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-11
Updated: 2017-06-11
Packaged: 2018-11-12 17:49:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,801
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11166945
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gravitropism/pseuds/gravitropism
Summary: Sehun is pretty sure he has a boyfriend, but his boyfriend might think otherwise.





	and every chance to dance i'll take

**Author's Note:**

> Grad Students!AU, if you haven't read the rest then really what are you doing get with the program.
> 
> While editing this I realized that there are subtle showtime references, which apparently at the time I thought were hilarious. They are not, but I left them in anyway.
> 
> Title from WRLD's See You.
> 
> e n j o y

A new superhero movie always warrants a trip to the theater, in Sehun’s opinion. He’s always been a bit of a nerd when it comes to Marvel, and this latest movie is no exception. So obviously he wants to go, and preferably with Chanyeol, who is, of course, his boyfriend.

Or at least Sehun thought he was. He scowls.

“—And that’s why I think Civil War was a little flawed, you know? You’d think their motivations would be different, see?” Chanyeol is saying, but not to Sehun. No, Chanyeol is talking to Yixing, and Sehun’s just a little angry. He’s not going to let his emotions spoil this movie for him.

Sehun looks down at his phone, checking the time. It’s 9:23, so they have about seven minutes until the movie starts. He’s got a text from Jongin, and he opens it up.

_if i leave pizza in the fridge can u maybe not eat it_

Sehun grins.

_i can maybe try_

Jongin is quick to reply.

_fuck u i thought we were friends_

_i said i’d try u know ur asking a lot from me_

_smh_

Sehun puts his phone on silent and tucks it into his jacket pocket. He’ll only take one piece. Jongin steals his food, too, so it’s fine. Anyway. Back to the topic on hand.

He had invited Chanyeol to come with him to see the movie, and apparently seeing a movie doesn’t constitute a date in Chanyeol’s books, because his boyfriend had invited Yixing to come along with them. Sehun suspects more people would have been invited as well, if not for previous engagements.

Sehun’s only kind of angry that the guy Chanyeol used to like is joining them for what was supposed to be a date. So much for that.

\--

They exit the theater into the cold air. Sehun stretches his arms overhead. He’s a little bitter that Chanyeol didn’t take the hint to grab his hand during the movie, but it’s fine, because at least this way he was able to fully immerse himself in the story. But still. He feels like he was the third friend in a group of three, not Chanyeol’s boyfriend.

“I need to go this way,” Yixing says cheerfully, “So I’ll see you guys later!”

“Sounds good,” Chanyeol agrees. “See you soon!”

Sehun and Chanyeol start off walking in the opposite direction, and Sehun waits until they’re an appropriate distance away from Yixing before speaking. “Chanyeol.”

Chanyeol looks over at him. “Yes?”

Sehun chews on his lip, wanting to go about this delicately despite his anger. “Not that I’m mad, but you know I wanted this to be a date, right?”

Chanyeol’s eyes go wide. “Oh, did you? Sorry, I didn’t realize!”

“Yeah.”

“I’m sorry! Yixing really wanted to come see this movie, though, and I thought it would be fun if we all went together! You should have said something!” Chanyeol says, eyes in full kicked puppy mode.

“I did,” Sehun replies, looking ahead. “I asked if you wanted to go to a movie with me.”

Chanyeol is quite for a moment, then says, “I didn’t know that was supposed to mean we were going on an exclusive date. Sorry? I’m sorry. How about we get pizza?”

Then what does count as a date, Sehun wants to scream at him. But he doesn’t, and instead just says, “Sure, I’m feeling kind of hungry, anyway.”

“Great!”

\--

Sehun pokes Jongin’s foot. He’s lying on the floor, as per usual, and Jongin has one foot dangling off the couch.

Jongin yelps, and brings his foot up. “What was that for?”

Sehun ignores his offended tone and points at the article he’s reading. “Did you read the one about the microRNA yet?”

“No, I just started it,” Jongin replies, still disgruntled. “You know my feet are ticklish; why did you do that?”

“Great, we can help each other read it, because I just read the first three paragraphs and understood nothing.”

“Is something bothering you?” Jongin asks. “How did the date with Chanyeol go?”

“It didn’t,” Sehun replies, focusing on the article but not really reading it.

“You totally went, though?”

“I mean it wasn’t a date. He invited Yixing,” Sehun grumbles.

Jongin sits up. “Wait, what the fuck? Seriously?”

“Yup.”

“Why did he do that? Also, do you think he still has a thing for Yixing?”

Sehun sighs, and rolls over onto his back. “No, I don’t think he still has a thing for Yixing. It’s like, he’s dating me, but we’re like friends who hold hands once in a blue moon and kiss occasionally.”

“Do you do anything else?” Sehun glares at him, and Jongin withers a little. “You haven’t done anything sexual?”

“No, and it’s getting a little frustrating,” Sehun says. “I know he doesn’t have issues with it because of that one time we all got drunk, remember?”

“Right, I remember that. Okay, so that’s definitely weird. Maybe he’s just taking his time, like that think I had with Baek?” Jongin reasons, shifting around in his seat. “Anyway, it seems like you have a real problem on your hands.”

“Yup,” Sehun sighs. He’s just frustrated, and he wishes Chanyeol would talk to him more.

“And do you know what we do when we have problems?” Jongin continues. Sehun looks up at him, and shakes his head mutely. The hell is he going on about now? “We talk to Kyungsoo, Baekhyun, Chanyeol, and Jongdae. They might be dumb half the time, but they’re surprisingly good at resolving issues like this. They might have an idea for you.”

Sehun blinks. “Not Chanyeol though, right?”

“Right, sorry,” Jongin mutters, “But yeah, the rest of them. They’ll give you a hand. They’re good at it, I promise.”

Nodding, Sehun rolls over and grabs his phone. “What do I do, then, text them and ask for a meeting?”

“Something like that,” Jongin says, yawning, and he collapses back onto the couch.

\--

A “meeting” turns out to be a huddle around a study table in the library. Sehun honestly thinks it’s a little ridiculous, but Baekhyun had insisted that they didn’t have any other choice.

“So what’s the deal?” Jongdae whispers, only kind of quietly. They’re technically in one of the quiet sections, but there’s nobody else there but some girl with her headphones in, so it doesn’t actually matter. Sehun still thinks they should have gone to a cafe or something.

“Chanyeol is being weird with me,” Sehun starts, trying his best to keep his voice down. “He invited Yixing to our date, and we haven’t done anything sex-wise.”

“That’s definitely weird,” Baekhyun muses. “While Chanyeol may not be the type to fuck on the first date, he’s not going to hold back when he’s actively dating someone.”

“I obviously haven’t known him as long, but I agree, that’s very strange,” Kyungsoo adds.

Jongin nods sagely. “Is Chanyeol on the same page as you? Does he consider your relationship to be boyfriends?”

“Oh, definitely,” Sehun says, sitting back in his chair and running a hand through his hair. “He knows we’re dating, he’s said that before, but he just doesn’t treat me like a boyfriend. We’re good friends who hold hands and kiss occasionally.”

Jongdae pats Sehun’s hand. “I’m very sorry,” he says, and Sehun glares at him.

“Stop acting like someone died and help me, then.”

“Technically someone did die,” Jongin points out. “Your dick. Your dick died because it’s not getting enough attention.”

Sehun grabs the skin of his arm and twists in opposite directions. Jongin manages to keep mostly quiet, but he whimpers and points to the reddened skin. Baekhyun smacks Sehun in retaliation for hurting his boyfriend, and Kyungsoo throws a pen at both of them.

“Shh, we’re going to get kicked out,” Kyungsoo says. “Let’s figure out some sort of plan so we can get back to studying. Anyone got any ideas?”

“We don’t really have a lot of information,” Jongdae admits, running a hand through his hair and ruffling it. “Maybe we should focus on that.”

“Are you saying we should make observations?” Baekhyun asks. “I guess we could do that.”

“It’s probably the most logical way to go from here. We don’t know very much about how Sehun and Chanyeol interact, so I think we should try and find out more,” Kyungsoo reasons. “Any objections to that?”

“Please just don’t be creepy,” Sehun says, picking up his pen.

\--

Chanyeol is washing his hair in the shower when the door opens. “Baek?” he calls out. It isn’t totally abnormal for Baekhyun to pop in the bathroom to get something while he’s showering, but it is unlikely

“Yeah, it’s me. I’m just going to do a thing,” comes Baekhyun’s voice. Chanyeol can see him gesturing through their frosted shower curtain.

“Okay?” Chanyeol shrugs and goes back to washing his hair. He’s nearly done with his shower, he just needs to wash his face, and he’ll be finished.

Squirting some of the face soap onto his hands, he rubs his hands together to create a lather, then swipes it onto his face, getting into all of the creases. A thumping noise comes from the other side of the curtain.

“Sorry! Just having trouble finding something!” Baekhyun calls out.

“Alright,” Chanyeol replies. He rinses off his face, does a quick wash behind his ears, and shuts off the water. “Can you hand me a towel?”

“Sure,” Baekhyun says distractedly. “I still can’t find what I’m looking for.” A towel is shoved into the shower stall, and Chanyeol grabs it, thanking him. He dries himself off, and wraps the towel around his waist, tucking it into ensure that it stays up.

Pushing the curtain aside, he steps out of the shower. Baekhyun is rummaging through the cabinet under their sink, and upon seeing Chanyeol, he sits up and shrugs.

“I got nothing. Oh well,” he says, exiting the bathroom. Chanyeol blinks.

\--

Chanyeol pauses with his chopsticks halfway to his mouth. The rice plops back into his bowl, but he ignores it.

Kyungsoo is avidly watching him eat.

“Anything wrong?” he asks, and Kyungsoo shakes his head, his big eyes open wide behind his glasses.

“No, keep eating,” Kyungsoo says, picking up his own chopsticks. “Don’t let me bother you.” He still doesn’t take his eyes off Chanyeol, and honestly it’s a little unnerving.

“Okay,” Chanyeol says slowly, and continues eating his rice. He isn’t sure what this is all about, but it’s starting to get a little creepy.

\--

Sehun and Chanyeol are walking from the science building to a restaurant. Sehun invited him out for lunch, and to his delight, Chanyeol actually agreed.

They’re talking about some book that Chanyeol has read, and is trying to recommend to Sehun, when he sees it. Kyungsoo is leaning against a tree, casually talking to Minseok, who has his back to the sidewalk. As they walk by, Sehun can see Kyungsoo’s eyes following their progress.

Three minutes later, Jongdae has his headphones in and is walking with his head down in the opposite direction. Chanyeol doesn’t notice, because he’s gesturing wildly about some scene in the book, but Sehun swears he can see Jongdae winking as he passes.

After seeing Baekhyun casually reading a book on a bench, Sehun is convinced that this has to be part of their plan. Technically, all of them are supposed to be eating lunch right now, and Sehun is a little happy that they would skip lunch just to help him out. Even though Chanyeol is missing all hints to take his hand, he’s filled with a warm bubbly feeling, and the date goes okay.

\--

Chanyeol unzips his pants. It’s lunchtime, and he’s taking the opportunity to use the restroom. The door swings open, and someone walks in, and over to the urinal next to Chanyeol’s. He looks over, and of course it’s Jongdae, who winks at him.

“How’s it rolling?” Jongdae asks, and unzips his own pants. Chanyeol pointedly looks back over at the wall in front of him as he relieves himself.

“Fine,” Chanyeol says. “Are we still having movie night on Friday?”

“Hell yeah. What do you want to watch? I’d be down for a superhero movie. There hasn’t been enough violence in my life recently.”

Chanyeol grins. “Yeah, same. Would you be upset if we watched Thor 2?”

“Maybe a little,” Jongdae allows. “I do have a massive boner for Loki, though, so I guess it’s okay.”

Chanyeol resists the urge to laugh. “Nice,” he says, glancing over at Jongdae. Jongdae is very obviously eyeing his crotch.

“Nice dick,” he says, and winks at Chanyeol again. Chanyeol honestly isn’t sure what to think, at this point, but Jongdae is zipping his pants, and washing his hands. Chanyeol follows, but slower, and is still drying his own hands when Jongdae saunters out.

\--

Movie night on Friday consists of an argument, then an agreement to watch both How to Train Your Dragon movies. Jongin feels very strongly about the subject, Sehun learns.

He looks around. They’re in Baekhyun and Chanyeol’s apartment, and he and Chanyeol are lying on the floor. Minseok, Kyungsoo, Baekhyun, and Jongin are on one of the couches, and Jongdae and Junmyeon are on the other. Yixing, whose girlfriend doesn’t like hanging out with them, is seated on the floor, leaning up against the couch.

Baekhyun catches Sehun’s stare, and returns it with a wink. Sehun thinks that’s supposed to mean that they’re still watching Chanyeol.

Sehun shrugs back, and throws a leg over Chanyeol’s to initiate some contact. They’re about twenty minutes into the movie; that’s enough time to start getting cozy.

Chanyeol doesn’t respond in any way. Sehun is just a little frustrated, so he wriggles closer and buries his face into the space between Chanyeol’s neck and shoulder. He carefully breathes in a way that would definitely make Yixing shriek in laughter.

Still no response. Jongdae taps the floor next to Sehun’s head with his foot, probably signifying his understanding of the situation.

Sehun gives up for a while, but when they put the second movie in, he practically welds his arms to Chanyeol’s torso. Chanyeol still does not react at all, causing to Sehun to make a little noise out of anger.

He can hear Kyungsoo’s muffled snickers.

\--

They reconvene in Kyungsoo and Jongdae’s apartment on Saturday to discuss.

Baekhyun shakes his head. “Man, he’s almost worse than how Jongin was at first,” he says, patting Jongin on the back. “But at least Jongin was just nervous; Chanyeol is pretty much just ignoring any advances you make. It was weird to watch.”

Sehun wants to scream. “See? He just treats me like a friend, and it’s annoying as hell. Have you guys seen any signs of affection at all?”

“He has a nice dick?” Jongdae offers.

Kyungsoo turns to look at him, eyes wide. “How do you know that? Why do you know that? Jongdae, are you withholding information from me?”

“Nah, I just happened to be in the bathroom,” Jongdae says, and Sehun glares at him.

“That’s my boyfriend’s dick. You have your own, go look at that.” Jongdae laughs, and Sehun ignores him. “Anyway, what should I do? Do I say something? What do I say?”

Baekhyun rests his head on his hands. “I mean, he’ll probably respond if you drop to your knees and blow him,” he muses. “I don’t think that’s really the best way to go, though.”

“True,” Kyungsoo points out, still side eye-ing Jongdae. “If you talk to him, you have better chances of getting a more real emotional connection, which is probably better in this case.”

Sehun is still frustrated. They have no idea how hard Chanyeol is to talk to in this sense. “But what do I say to him? It’s like trying to talk to a wall whenever I bring up our relationship.”

“Maybe Baekhyun has a point,” Jongdae says.

“I really don’t think sucking his dick is going to help us out here,” Kyungsoo says, glaring.

Jongdae shakes his head rapidly. “No, I’m not saying do that. I’m saying bring up the sex first, and then transition to the emotional stage. Sex gets people’s attention, you feel me?”

“That’s not a bad idea,” says Jongin, who’s been quiet, “But what if Chanyeol just locks up when you get to talking about emotions?”

“Then I’ll withhold food,” Kyungsoo says, sitting back. “I think, though, if you go about it gently enough, he should realize where he’s going wrong.”

Sehun nods. “I guess I can do that,” he says. “Wish me luck?”

\--

Sehun picks Saturday night to execute the plan. He shows up to Chanyeol and Baekhyun’s apartment at around 7 pm, and knocks. As planned, Baekhyun answers the door.

“Ah, Sehun,” Baekhyun says, beaming. “I was just leaving.”

“You’re leaving?” Chanyeol asks, walking up to stand behind Baekhyun. “Hi, Sehun.”

“Yup, just need to put on my shoes. I’m going to hang with Jongin, so no need to come with,” Baekhyun replies cheerfully. Chanyeol shrugs, and walks back into the apartment.

Baekhyun opens the door wider to let Sehun in, and Sehun removes his shoes before wandering into the small living room of the apartment. Chanyeol is sitting on the floor with his back resting against the couch, playing some sort of fighting game. Sehun chooses to plop down on the couch next to where he’s sitting (it’s actually open for once. Sehun is always stuck with the floor).

“I’ll be back pretty late, if not at all!” Baekhyun calls out, before leaving and shutting the door behind him.

Sehun turns his focus to Chanyeol. “So what’s up?”

“Nothing much,” Chanyeol mutters, mashing buttons on the controller. “I’m almost done with this round if you want to join me.”

“I wanted to talk to you, actually,” Sehun says, before he loses his courage. “So I would appreciate if we could do that.”

Chanyeol pauses the game, and looks up at him with wide eyes. “Talk to me about what?”

“Maybe about how we haven’t had any intimate contact?”

Chanyeol just blinks at him. Sehun sighs.

“Look, we’ve kissed like twice, and I’ve been trying to get you to do other things, but you keep ignoring me. What’s up?”

Chanyeol carefully sets his controller down, and climbs up onto the couch next to Sehun. “Have I really been doing that?”

Sehun nods. “Yeah. Seriously, dude, we don’t even hold hands. Not going to lie, it’s a little frustrating. It doesn’t feel like we’re dating.”

Chanyeol’s got his full puppy eyes on, but Sehun isn’t going to back down, no way. “But we are dating.”

“It feels like we’re friends who give each other a friendly kiss once in a while. We barely go on dates; whenever we’re out, we’re with someone else. Do you even want this?” He maybe feels like he could cry.

“I--” Chanyeol frowns. “Of course I do. I would have said something if I didn’t.”

That doesn’t make Sehun feel any better. He’s not going to sit here and deal with this without fixing their relationship. “Then why won’t you DO anything?” Sehun says, his voice rising in pitch. “Can you please actually tell me what you’re feeling, instead of just giving me reassurances and asking questions?”

Chanyeol seems mollified. “I never meant to make you feel like that, Sehun. I, I don’t know. It’s been a while since I’ve dated anyone, for a start. I do have growing feelings for you. I don’t want this to end, because I like hanging out with you, and I like knowing that you like me, and that we share that feeling. I think that maybe part of it was that I didn’t want to lose your friendship?”

“What do you mean by lose my friendship?” Sehun asks. “How are we different from, say, Minseok and Kyungsoo?”

Chanyeol brings one of his hoodie ties up to his mouth. It’s a nervous habit Sehun has never seen in person, but he could tell that Chanyeol did it by how ratty his hoodies always looked. It’s cute, he realizes. “Well, with all the other couples in our group, they got together without becoming really good friends first. Like, Minseok and Kyungsoo. Minseok liked Kyungsoo first, and then they were only friends for a short while before they started dating. Baekhyun literally saw Jongin and started flirting; Jongdae and Junmyeon liked each other from the start. But you and I were friends for a while before you told me that you liked me.”

“I guess you’re right,” Sehun says, “I started liking you after we became friends.” He can feel his cheeks growing a little red.

Chanyeol nods. “Yeah. So I don’t want to lose our friendship, because I like that aspect of our relationship. And maybe that’s why I was treating you more like a friend, and less like a boyfriend. I’m sorry, Sehunnie.” The drawstring falls from his mouth, and he wraps his arms around Sehun in a hug. Sehun feels his lips press to his hair. “I’m sorry I made you feel that way.”

“I should have said something earlier,” Sehun mumbles. “It’s not just you.”

“Yeah, but it’s mostly me. And I’m sorry,” he says, squeezing a little tighter. “How can I fix this?”

“Um.” Sehun hasn’t really thought about this, but he’ll give it a try. “Maybe you can be a little more physically affectionate with me? We can still do friendly stuff, but can we do it while being close to one another?”

“Yeah, I like the sound of that.”

“And we can still hang out with our friends, of course, but I’d like it if we could have dates that are just the two of us, too. And I’ll tell you when I want it to be just us, so we don’t make that mistake again,” Sehun says hopefully.

“That too,” Chanyeol says. He pulls back and grins, then kisses Sehun. It’s short and sweet, and pretty much everything Sehun’s been wanting. “You act like such a punk, but you’re actually really cute, Sehunnie.”

“Fuck off,” Sehun grumbles, but kisses him back anyway. “Alright, enough with the talk. I want to try that game.”

“Sure!” Chanyeol beams. He leaps up to hook up another controller, which he passes to Sehun. Settling on the couch, he wraps an arm around Sehun’s waist, rests his chin on his shoulder, and picks up his own controller. “Is this good?”

Sehun snickers. “Good enough for now.”

\--

When Baekhyun returns, Jongin in tow, Sehun and Chanyeol are kissing slowly, game long forgotten. “I’m proud of myself,” Baekhyun says to himself. He turns to Jongin. “Are you proud of me?”

“In general, yes. Right now, I’d like to stop watching my best friend and your roommate eat each other’s faces.”

**Author's Note:**

> t h a n k y o u f r i e n d f o r r e a d i n g i'm getting better at this writing shit i promise. Next part will be out in less than a month.
> 
> s e e y o u t h e n f r e n d


End file.
